80 CANINE MEDICINE AND SURGERY 



afterwards receive a good course of tonic treat- 

 ment. 



Diabetes Mellitus 



This is a condition in which the urinary secretion 

 is not only abnormally increased but also contains 

 a large quantity of sugar. 



Cause. — This disease is essentially one of per- 

 verted hepatic metabolism, where glycogenic func- 

 tion is interfered with by the absence or poverty of 

 the internal secretion of the pancreas. Due either 

 to disease of or to a lack of function of the islands of 

 Langerhans in the pancreas, this internal secretion 

 is diminished or suppressed and its absence from the 

 blood stream causes the perverted metabolism in the 

 liver. Sugar in the urine is also found, after re- 

 moval of the pancreas, in concussion of the brain, 

 fracture of the skull, epilepsy, urari poisoning, and 

 after large doses of morphin and amyl nitrate. 



Symptoms. — Diabetes mellitus is evidenced by 

 depression, dullness, and great emaciation, although 

 the appetite is enormously increased. Thirst is in- 

 creased and the patient passes large quantities of 

 urine of high specific gravity, 1,035 to 1,060, con- 

 taining from seven to twelve per cent of sugar. 



Ulceration of the cornea and blindness may occur 

 from cataract formation, and a chronic bronchitis is 

 also often associated with this condition. Diarrhea 

 is usually persistent. ^The course of the disease is 

 gradual, the animal slowly wasting away, finally 

 lapsing into coma in which it dies. Sometimes to- 

 ward the end the comatose state is ushered in by 

 convulsions. The prognosis is unfavorable. 



Treatment. — The diseased animal should be given 

 a meat diet with as little carbohydrates as possible 

 in cases of diabetes mellitus. The administration of 

 arsenic in the form of Fowler's solution is the most 



